Fall is by far my favorite season of the year for a number of reasons but mostly because it is my season to get back into the kitchen and start cooking my favorite comfort foods. At the first hint of crisp fall air, I immediately feel compelled to start cooking warm and hearty meals for my family to enjoy. This is the time of year when I am most creative in the kitchen.
There isn't any other meal I can think of that is as comforting as a hot soup on a chilly fall day in Maine. I make a lot of soups in the fall and when I do, I make them in big batches so I can share with family, friends and co-workers. My personal favorite comfort soup is hot and sour soup. I had this soup for the first time about 5 years ago from a Chinese take out restaurant and instantly fell in love with it. I knew immediately that I needed to learn how to make this soup but I also knew that it would not come easily to me. I began studying and trying variations of different recipes over and over again until I finally came up with one of my own that I am quite proud of.
There are a number of Asian cultures that each have their own versions of hot and sour soup. I prefer the Chinese version and more specifically, szechuan style hot and sour. This is the style that you will find most frequently in local Asian restaurants. Mine is similar to what you will find in many of these restaurants but I'd like to think it's healthier and in some cases more complex in flavor. Without further ado...here is my very own hot and sour soup recipe.
The Ingredients
Here I have Chinese rice wine, dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, Chinese barbecue sauce, chicken stock, baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, diced carrots, eggs, dried lily buds, white pepper, ginger, garlic, red chili pepper and boneless pork ribs.
First start by preparing the pork ribs to cook
Brush the boneless pork ribs liberally with the Chinese barbecue sauce and place in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees until the pork is completely cooked.
Next you will start to prepare the items for the base of the soup.
Mince one large clove of garlic and a 1 inch piece of ginger and set aside
Then you will slice your red chili pepper (the one above is a Thai chili) and remove the rib and most of the seeds. If you like it extra hot then you can leave the rib and seeds in the chili and chop the chili into small pieces. Cut the chilies so that they are big enough to skim out of the broth later.
Next you will prepare the vegetables
I have purchased both the shiitake mushrooms and carrots pre-cut and ready to go so first I start with the baby bok choy. I used two small bunches of baby bok choy which I purchased at On The Vine in Scarborough. Cut the stalks of the bok choy in thin slices at an angle all the way up the stalk until you get to the leafy part. Set the leafy part aside and continue cutting the rest of the stalks. Once the stalks are chopped, roll up the leaves of the baby bok choy and start slicing the leaves into very thin long pieces. Once you are done slicing the leaves, give them a couple of rough chops so they are not too long and stringy when you are trying to eat them.
Preparing the dried lily buds
The lily buds that I use, and the only ones that you are likely to find around here, are dried. To pre-pare your lily buds, you will first need to re-hydrate them. When I first started working with these, I would just throw the dried buds right into the soup. That is a mistake! There are parts of the lily bud that are course and hard and not pleasant to bite into. For this reason you will want to re-hydrate the lily buds before you add them to the soup so that you can cut off any of the inedible parts of the bud.
This is what your lily buds will look like when they are completely hydrated
Then you will lay the lily buds out on a cutting board and cut off any of the course or hard ends of the buds
Once you are done cutting the ends, give the buds one or two rough chops so they are not too long.
Now you are ready to start cooking the soup
In a large pot over medium heat, add two tablespoons of peanut oil. When the oil is heated, add your minced garlic and ginger along with the chopped red chili pepper and cook for about a minute or until the garlic and ginger become somewhat translucent and the chili pepper has softened. Stir frequently while cooking so you do not burn your garlic.
Next, add a tablespoon of Chinese rice wine and stir to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Then you will pour in 6 to 8 cups of prepared chicken stock. I used organic store bought stock but I have made my own a couple of times and if you are feeling ambitious, feel free to make your own as well.
After adding the chicken stock, bring to a boil and then add 1/4 of a cup of soy sauce, 1/4 of a cup rice wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce. I started using the dark soy sauce to get a darker color broth initially but it does add another depth of flavor that I had not achieved in the soups I made previous to using it.
At this point you will want to remove all of the large pieces of chili pepper.
Next you will add the carrots and the stalks of bok choy when the broth has come to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer while you prepare the cooked pork to add to the soup. This is what it should look like at this point.
Once your pork is cooked and has cooled, cut the meat of the rib into think slices
Cut each of the slices in half and then then chop into very small and thin pieces as shown in the picture below
When you are done preparing the pork add the sliced pork, the mushrooms and the bok choy leaves to the broth and bring to a boil again.
While you are waiting for your broth to come to a boil, prepare your eggs to add to the soup.
Add sesame seed oil to two cracked eggs and very lightly beat the eggs and set aside.
This is where I do my final taste test and add any final and/or additional items based on my personal taste. I add the white pepper and I typically add a little more rice wine vinegar. There are times when I have had to add a good pinch or sugar rather than more vinegar because the soup may have been a little too sour. I will also typically add more chilies at this point in the form of hot chili oil; which also contains chili seeds.
This is the hot chili oil that I use.
You can find the chili oil, lily buds and any of the other sauces that I have used and Trans Asian market in Biddeford.
When you are done adding the final and any additional ingredients to the soup, very slowly add your eggs to the mixture. As you are pouring the eggs in, stir vigorously with a fork so the egg will break apart and feather as it hits the hot broth. This is how you get the light feathery eggs that you see floating in your hot and sour soup in the restaurants.
When you are done with this step, your soup should look something like this and you are done. Congratulations...you have made hot and sour soup!
This is an extremely versatile soup and you can add just about anything you prefer for vegetables and protein. You will typically see tofu in a hot and sour soup. I did not use tofu in this recipe as my family does not like it but I have used it before and it is a delicious addition. Other ingredients you might want to consider are shrimp, chicken, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, different types of mushrooms, and napa or savoy cabbages. The possibilities are endless...it really just depends on your taste. You can also thicken this broth after adding the egg with a mixture of cornstarch and cold water. I do not like to thicken my broth but many do prefer it that way.
It is really the base of this soup that is the star of the show no matter what you decide to add for proteins or vegetables. All of the different textures and the amazing depths of flavor in hot and sour soup make this one of the all time best soups in my opinion. I know many others are as passionate about it as I am. People have been asking me for this recipe for years but I would not share it until I was certain that I had perfected it to my own taste at least.
I am hope that you will enjoy this recipe and perhaps create your very own recipe for hot and sour soup using some of the ideas that you have seen here. If so, I would love to hear about your experiences in making this amazing soup!
Enjoy!
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